Proposal Would Strengthen Role of Police Watchdog

A panel studying City Charter reforms is set to consider a proposal that would greatly strengthen the independence of the Los Angeles Police Department’s civilian watchdog, officials said Friday.

Amid a continuing controversy over the inspector general position, the chairman of the elected charter commission will ask his colleagues to approve measures that would ensure that the post has the power and autonomy to investigate disciplinary problems and other issues within the LAPD.

Under a proposal being floated by Erwin Chemerinsky, a constitutional law professor at USC and chairman of the charter commission, the inspector general would report directly to both the civilian police commissioners and the panel’s executive director. Now, the position reports to the executive director.

Moreover, the office would carry a six-year term instead of serving at the pleasure of the commission. The inspector general also would not be required to get the permission of commissioners before launching an investigation.

Chemerinsky said it is “crucial to strengthen the position as a way of carrying out what the Christopher Commission recommended in providing a check on the Police Department.”

The Christopher panel proposed the position and other police reforms in 1991 after the beating of Rodney G. King.

His proposal is scheduled to be discussed Nov. 23 by the elected charter commission.

The roles and responsibilities of the inspector general have been at the crux of a Police Commission controversy in recent weeks. Inspector General Katherine Mader resigned under pressure from her commission bosses this week. Had she not resigned, the commission’s executive director, Joseph A. Gunn, told reporters at a news conference that the panel probably would have fired her. Gunn said the quality of her work was “not up to our standards.”

Shortly after announcing her Jan. 1 resignation, Mader said the commission had undermined the position and the public was being defrauded into thinking it was truly independent. She said she was going to press the city’s two charter commissions and city lawmakers to strengthen the post. Chemerinsky’s proposals are in line with Mader’s concept of the job.

Earlier this month, the city’s appointed charter commission voted to change the charter so that the inspector general would report directly to the police commissioners. Voters will be asked to approve a new charter next year based on the work from the appointed and elected charter commissions.

Meanwhile, tensions between Mader and the Police Commission continued to escalate.

Mader on Friday sent a letter to Gunn saying that his comments about her work tarnished her reputation and violated confidentiality laws. Mader charged that Gunn had “deliberately violated my rights to privacy and confidentiality. In addition, it appears you have defamed me.”

Because of the personal nature of Gunn’s remarks, Mader wrote, she has “consulted with my attorney Gary Bostwick. . . . The next communication on this issue will be from Mr. Bostwick.”

Gunn could not be reached for comment.

During a public engagement Friday afternoon, Mayor Richard Riordan declined to second-guess the Police Commission.

Yet despite Riordan’s past public support for his commissioners, sources say their actions have caused consternation among top officials in the mayor’s office and some of Riordan’s close advisors.

Although the mayor has never been an enthusiastic supporter of Mader, officials close to Riordan expressed amazement at the decision to publicly attack her performance, which they attribute to commission President Edith Perez and Gunn.

Gunn’s Thursday press conference, they said, not only prolonged a controversy that they would prefer to see subside but also effectively made Mader seem more restrained and sophisticated than the commission.

“What should I call it?” one Riordan advisor asked. “How about a disaster?”

The controversy is not expected to die down, either.

Next week a group of civil libertarians and police reformers, including former commissioners, are planning a news conference to express their anxiety over the status of civilian oversight of the LAPD.

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Times staff writer Jim Newton contributed to this story.